FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Communion Meditation by Dr.
George Bryant Wirth
Summer Communion
August 3, 2003
Scripture: John 13:1-17
It
might seem strange for a preacher who has been away on vacation to come back
with a pulpit disclaimer entitled “I’d Rather See a Sermon Than Hear One.” That
sounds something akin to a surgeon saying “I’d rather not operate” or a
lawyer proclaiming “We don’t need to litigate.”
Moreover,
because preaching is what God has called me to do, I have spent the last month
up at Chautauqua Lake in New York, working on the sermon recommendations that
came from many of you. And having mixed
in some of my own ideas and insights, I am ready and raring to go with titles
and biblical texts from now on through next June.
So
why would the preacher, having stored up all of that homiletical ammunition,
stand before you today and say “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one?”
I.
Well, if the truth be told, it is because of a poem that one of you gave to me a while ago, a poem by Edgar Guest which caught my attention. It came in the mail with a brief note that said, “With all due respect, good luck with this one!” Please listen:
Than hear one any day.
I’d
rather one should walk with me
Than merely show the way.
The
eye’s a better pupil
And more willing than the
ear;
Fine
counsel is confusing,
But example’s always clear.
And
the best of all the preachers
Are those who live their
creeds,
For
to see the good in action
Is what everybody needs.
I
can soon learn to do it
If you’ll let me see it
done,
I
can watch your hands in action
But your tongue too fast may
run.
And
the lectures you deliver
May be very wise and true,
But
I’d rather get my lesson
By observing what you do.
For
I may misunderstand you
And the high advice you
give,
But
there’s no misunderstanding
How you act and how you
live.
Edgar
A. Guest
Now
those words are not as eloquent as Shakespeare, but I think that Edgar Guest
has come ever so close to the gospel.
Do you remember the way Jesus referred to some of the religious leaders
of His day? Speaking to the disciples
and a crowd which had gathered around them, Jesus said … Observe whatever
they (the leaders) tell you, but not
what they do … for they preach but they
do not practice (Matthew 23:1-3).
That
seems straightforward enough so that even a child can understand and know that
it’s true. And sometimes, oftentimes,
as our children listen to and watch us, they can tell the difference between
what we say and what we do.
A
little boy wandered into his father’s study at home as he, a preacher, was
preparing for Sunday’s sermon. After a
few minutes, the boy looked up and asked, “Dad, how do you know what to
say”? The father answered, “Well, I
pray and then God gives me the words.”
There was a long pause until the boy replied, “Then why do you keep
crossing so much of it out”?
And
on a Sunday morning, a church school teacher asked her second grade class as
they prepared to go into the worship service, “Why is it important to be quiet
in the sanctuary”? A bright little girl
responded, “Because people are sleeping there.”
Sometimes,
oftentimes, our children can tell the difference between the words that we
speak and the way that we live. And if
you and I are willing to be honest with ourselves and with God, we can tell the
difference too. So perhaps the time has
come, right here and right now, for all of us as Christians to pay more attention
to what we say and what we do.
Because not only our children, but many others around us are watching
and listening to determine if they can put their trust in the Lord to whom we
bear witness.
It
was Mother Teresa who once said, “Preach the gospel at all times … and use
words if necessary.” Which is exactly
what Edgar Guest was trying to say when he wrote “I’d rather see a sermon than
hear one any day.”
II.
It
happened at the Last Supper you know.
Jesus, together with His disciples and closest friends, had gathered in
an upper room in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. As they broke bread and drank wine with one another, Jesus got up
from the table, took a water basin and towel and washed His disciples’ feet. When He was finished, He sat back down,
looked at them with love in His heart and compassion in His eyes, and said Do
you know what I have done for you? You
call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have
washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you
also should do as I have done to you (John 13:1-15, selected verses).
Next
to Bethlehem’s manger, Calvary’s cross and Easter’s empty tomb, I think that
this scene may be the most important in all of the New Testament. Jesus Christ, the Lord of life, with the
power of the universe in the palms of His hands, took into those hands a wash
basin, a towel and bent down to wash His disciples’ feet. In word and in deed, He showed them how to
serve, and then sent them out to change the whole world.
It
happened back then and it is still happening today, as you and I and Christians
everywhere are willing to proclaim the name of Jesus and put our faith into
action.
In
a few moments, we are going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, and I am
especially grateful that two Presbyterian ministers from Northern Ireland,
Marisine and David Stanfield, are here with their youth group on a mission trip
to join us in this sacred event.
So
before we come to the table, I want to tell a story which some of you have
heard before, about an ecumenical gathering of Protestants and Roman Catholics
which the Episcopal priest John Westerhoff attended some years ago. The place was called Corryomelia in Northern
Ireland of the United Kingdom, which is actually as divided as many other
places throughout our world. The
purpose was to focus on reconciliation, and the clergy and laypersons had
invited some children to participate in the weeklong conference with them.
By
the fourth day, the event was not going well.
People were frustrated, the tension was growing and they even had a
difficult time saying The Lord’s Prayer together because of different versions
and divided opinions. John Westerhoff
was asked to lead the morning devotions and he told the story about the woman
in Luke’s gospel who touched Jesus’ robe and was healed.
At
that moment, a Roman Catholic priest sat down on the floor next to one of the
Protestant children. Westerhoff watched
and listened.
In
the silence, the little girl next to the priest said “May I touch you?”
“Yes”
whispered the priest.
“I’m
scared” she said.
“Why?”
he asked.
“Because
my father would beat me if he knew I touched you.”
“Maybe
he does not need to know” the priest said.
Then
she touched him on the arm, looked at her hand and exclaimed, “Nothing
happened.”
“Yes
it did” the priest replied with tears in his eyes. “You and I will never see the world the same way again.”
Westerhoff
said that all who were there and witnessed that moment began to behave
differently toward one another. And as
the conference came to a close, all of those people – Protestants and
Catholics, clergy and laypeople, adults and children, had discovered a deeper
experience of reconciliation than they had ever known before.
It
happened at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, and it can and still does happen
today – joy, peace, love, and the power to forgive, not only through the words
we speak but also and especially in the way we live. That is what God offers to you and to me as we come to this table
in the name of His Son our Savior Jesus.
And all we need to do is to open our hearts and hands to receive the
blessings which He has promised to us.
In
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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